Nevada Counties - Final Day (at last)

Son, Clint, works for Idaho Power and helps maintain their power generation facilities.  He frequently works extended shifts where he will work 8 or 10 days in a row and then gets several days off.  He was on one of those shifts at this time.  He had been looking for a work truck for some time and found one on Craig’s List that was in Boise.  Since he would not be able to get over to look at it for several days I agreed to look it over on my way back and leave a deposit if it looked acceptable.

I was on the road again at 6:00 a.m. heading west to Boise.  A cold front was moving in and instead of the more normal morning east wind I had the worst head wind of the whole trip.  While the southern Nevada side gusts were worse from the standpoint of safety, this was brutal.  I had to lean down and forward as far as possible on my tank bag and hang on to the handlebars for dear life.  I had to stop four times in the 80 miles to Boise to warm up and rest.  The first stop was at a Rest Area where I went in the restroom and put on another layer of clothes. 

The truck was actually located in a residential area called Hidden Hills about 15 miles north of Boise.  When I finally got there it was like a maze and I had some trouble finding the place.  When I eventually got close I asked directions from a neighbor and found the right house.  The truck was a 2001 Dodge half ton with only 63,000 miles on it.  It was a former Forest Service vehicle and looked to me just like the Plain Jane rig Clint wanted.  I drove it and it seemed tight and well serviced.  I wasn’t able to reach Clint on my phone so I went ahead and committed the deposit.  Getting out of this area was even worse than getting in.  I knew (somewhere) there was a road that would take me directly to highway 55 so I wouldn’t have to backtrack to Boise.  Again I had to seek directions and a lady agreed to take me to the road which she did.

Fortunately Clint did like the truck.  His sister, Hallie, said now we can say, “Here comes ole Ranger Clint”.

The fierce wind stayed with me all the way to Riggins although it certainly wasn’t as severe as on the Interstate that morning.  I picked up a few more caches along the way and got home about 4:30 p.m. lacking 4 miles of having 2,500 on my GPSr.  I guess I should have made a few loops around the neighborhood.

I learned a lot on this trip.  I don’t think I’ll motorcycle through Nevada again and if I do it won’t be by myself.  I love my little Triumph but it’s really not intended to be a touring bike.  I have road side assistance insurance on my dual sport BMW which I frequently use on back country non-paved roads but not on my Triumph.  I will on my next trip.

This journey was like something painted over with dark disaster and then with an added light coat of rescue.  There are some good folks out there and I was fortunate to find some when I needed them.  My little disasters could have been so much worse.  Thanks for reading along and enduring my tale of woe.  M/W